Playing His Dangerous Game (10 page)

Kissing her for a second time and pressing the emergency stop button had taken the madness a step further.

‘Thank you for the timely reminder. I’m here to protect you. Nothing else. Let’s keep it that way.’

Royce kept to his word.

Shara should have been pleased, but she wasn’t.

Instead, she felt strangely disappointed. She also felt uncomfortable. She vacillated between wanting to apologise to him and then berating herself for feeling sorry for him.

It went on like that for two days.

By the end of the second day Shara had had enough.

She flung the magazine she’d been trying to read without any success down on to the sofa beside her and stomped into the kitchen, where Royce worked on his laptop and mobile phone every day.

‘OK. Do you want me to apologise?’ she demanded, stopping just inside the kitchen door and jamming her hands down on her hips.

Royce looked up slowly from his laptop and leaned back in his chair.

He really was the most handsome man. Every time she looked at him he took her breath away.

‘Apologise for what?’

‘For calling you the hired help,’ she said.

Royce shrugged. ‘That’s entirely up to you.’

‘But you don’t care one way or another?’

‘No. I don’t.’

Shara stared at him. ‘Well, whether you care or not, I’m sorry. I should never have made the comment. It was wrong. I lashed out without thinking.’

Having said what she’d come to say, she turned to leave. She was at the door when he said her name quietly behind her.

Slowly she turned to face him. ‘What?’

‘Thank you for the apology.’

She inclined her head. ‘You’re welcome. As I said, I should never have made the remark in the first place. As my old nanny used to say, “We all have to put our undies on the same way.”’

Royce stared at her, then flung his head back and burst out laughing. When he finally calmed down he asked, ‘Your old nanny said that?’

Shara could hardly speak. Royce looked twice as handsome as he usually did when he laughed like that. ‘She did. She was a blunt and down-to-earth woman. It was her way of teaching me that everyone is equal.’

Royce nodded. ‘So that’s where you get it from.’

Shara frowned. ‘Get what from?’

‘Your frankness. If you haven’t noticed, you’re pretty direct yourself.’

Shara shrugged. ‘Mrs P was with me for six years. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of her attitude rubbed off on me.’

When Royce didn’t say anything else Shara turned to leave again. This time she didn’t even reach the door before Royce stopped her.

‘Before you go, there’s something we need to discuss.’

Again she turned slowly, and again her heart went berserk.

‘What is it?’ she asked, sounding so breathless she was barely able to recognise her own voice.

‘We have a court date for the AVO.’

The air hissed from her lungs. For a minute—just one—she’d thought Royce was going to discuss their kiss with her. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that he hadn’t.

‘When?’ she asked.

‘Two weeks today.’

Shara absorbed the information. She’d expected the news to make her feel anxious, but it didn’t. She was a little nervous, which was perfectly understandable, but that was about it. ‘OK.’

‘I think that will send a clear message to Brady. Hopefully he’ll back off.’

That could well be the beginning of the end.

She greeted the thought with mixed feelings.

Obviously she was ecstatic at the thought of bringing Steve’s campaign of terror to an end. But it also meant that Royce would walk out of her life.

That was a
good
thing, she assured herself.

So why then was there a distinct pang in the middle of her chest?

‘Let’s hope so.’ She hesitated in the doorway. Waved a hand at the files and laptop. ‘Do you have time for another karate lesson? Or are you too busy?’

Royce stared at her.

Shara laughed and waved another hand through the air. ‘Forget it. It’s a bad idea. I shouldn’t have said anything. I need a break, that’s all. I’ll read a book or something.’

‘How are the donations going for the ball?’

‘I’ve called all the companies who donated something last year. I’ve left messages for some of them, but almost everyone I’ve spoken to is going to donate again.’

Royce whistled through his teeth. ‘That must have taken some doing.’

She smiled. ‘I had to twist an arm or two, but most of them were happy to help out.’ She waved another hand. ‘I’ll get out of your hair now.’

Royce didn’t respond. He just kept on staring at her with chocolate-brown eyes.

She didn’t need to explain why a karate session was a bad idea. After the kiss they’d shared in the lift they both knew that they’d be inviting disaster.

She turned to leave for a third time. Had actually taken two steps into the hallway when he said her name again.

‘What?’ she asked over her shoulder.

‘I could do with a break too,’ he said slowly. ‘Go and get changed. We’ll meet in the lounge room in five minutes.’

‘What are you
doing
?’ Royce muttered to himself under his breath as he walked into the lounge room at the allotted time.

This was foolhardy at best, and at worst complete insanity.

Shara was waiting for him, dressed as she usually was in the almost see-through white cotton pants and a figure-hugging T-shirt that outlined the generous swell of her breasts and enough cleavage to make his body harden.

‘OK. Where do we start?’ she asked.

Royce took a seat on the sofa. ‘I’d like you to demonstrate what you’ve learned so far.’

There was only one way he was going to survive this session, and that was by adopting a hands-free approach.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s see what you remember.’

Shara got into the first starting position and one by one went through the various blocks, punches and kicks he’d taught her.

Royce tried to concentrate on her technique.

But more and more he found his focus drifting to other things.

Like how serious she looked as she concentrated on doing each movement to the best of her ability. The frown creasing her forehead and the little moue she made with her lips.

And of course the other huge distraction was her body.

Her muscles flexed and released. Her belly contracted. So, too, did her buttocks.

And then there were her breasts. They jiggled ever so slightly with every movement. And every jiggle made his body harden more and more, until he was ready to jump to his feet and—

No!

Don’t even think about it.

If he did he was likely to become undone.

But, try as he might, he couldn’t control where he looked or how he felt.

Shara was almost at the end of her demonstration when the phone rang. Her arms immediately dropped to her sides, her expression growing tense.

Royce clenched his teeth. His patience was growing thin at Brady’s daily dose of terror.

Reaching out, he pulled the plug from the wall socket.

‘Continue,’ he said, waving a hand.

‘You can’t do that.’

‘Of course I can. If it’s important they’ll call you on your mobile.’

What he meant, of course, was that if it was anyone other than Brady they would call her on her mobile.

Shara picked up where she’d left off. When she’d finished, she asked, ‘What next?’

If he had any sense he’d end the session then and there. Instead, he rose to his feet. His heart was pounding. ‘You’re ready to do some very basic sparring. I want you to attack me. Hit, kick, punch. Whatever you like. I’ll block you and
make an attacking movement of my own. Then we’ll try it in reverse.’

‘OK.’ Shara aimed a punch at his belly. Royce blocked, dipped, and then aimed an answering punch gently to the side of her head.

This time she kicked and then punched him. Royce blocked both moves, spun around, and aimed a kick at her knee.

After about ten minutes Royce said, ‘OK, your turn. This time I’m going to attack you. I want you to concentrate on defending yourself.’

Shara raised her hands in defensive mode.

As quick as a flash Royce made a soft chop to the side of her neck. ‘Hey, that was too easy.’

‘I wasn’t ready,’ Shara protested.

Royce moved more slowly this time, aiming a fist at her solar plexus. Shara blocked him with a throw of her left arm, then moved into a punch.

Royce blocked her effortlessly. ‘Well, well, well. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?’

She grinned. ‘You bet.’

Royce backed off a pace to see what Shara would do.

They danced around on their toes, hands raised in fighting position. Shara aimed a punch towards Royce’s chest. He blocked it with a swing of his left arm.

Royce moved to the left, feinted, quickly put his left foot behind her right ankle and pushed. Surprise and momentum sent Shara tumbling to the floor.

Royce followed her down, pinning her to the rug with his weight.

The feel of her beneath him sent a shimmering wave of heat through his entire body. The cushioning fullness of her breasts and the welcoming dip of her hips sent his blood pressure skyrocketing.

Royce took both of her hands in his and pinned them to
the carpet on either side of her head. He’d never thought of karate as foreplay, but that was exactly what it felt like.

Excitement had been building from the moment Shara had suggested the session.

In the last ten minutes it had gone right off the charts.

Breaking point had come and gone in the blink of an eye.

Royce didn’t think twice. He didn’t think at all. He simply bent his head and crushed her mouth with his.

Shara kissed him straight back.

Excitement rushed through him. So potent it made his blood fizz and stretched every inch of his skin.

In an action as ancient as time Royce pressed his erection against her. Shara moaned and tugged her hands free. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers weaving into his hair.

Royce trailed his mouth over the delicate arch of her cheekbone to her earlobe, where he sucked on the sensitive flesh.

Shara’s body moved restlessly beneath his.

From her ear, his mouth moved lower, trailing a path of liquid fire down her throat. He paused at its base, his tongue flicking against her frantically beating pulse, before moving lower still.

He buried his face between her breasts and inhaled her scent. It circulated in his bloodstream like heady wine.

‘Yes,’ Shara muttered, her hands clutching at his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh.

Royce ran his hands over her bone-melting curves, undecided on which part to linger, trying to enjoy each delectable inch of her all at once.

He raised his head and stared down at her.

Her eyelids lifted slowly, as if they were heavy. The fire he saw in her eyes echoed deep inside of him.

‘You’re wearing too many clothes,’ he said, in a voice he hardly recognised as his own.

Shara nodded, as if she were incapable of speech.

With the aid of her wriggling, Royce pulled her T-shirt up over her head. He stared down at what he’d revealed: ripe breasts spilling out of the cups of her bra.

His loins kicked, and then kicked again even harder.

His blood pulsed so strongly he could feel it beating against the underside of his skin.

‘Do you know how long I’ve wanted to see you like this?’ he asked, the question dragged from deep inside him.

Shara shook her head.

‘For ever,’ he whispered.

It was the most incongruous answer. It didn’t make sense. And yet on a primitive level, where DNA met energy and created life, it was true. True in a way that he couldn’t even begin to understand.

Sliding a hand beneath her back, he unfastened her bra and slowly stripped it away.

His breath caught in the back of his throat

Slowly he raised his hands. For several moments they hovered in the air, and then he cupped a breast in each hand. As he’d thought more than once, she fitted him perfectly. As if she’d been made just for him. The pads of his thumbs rubbed across her nipples, which immediately sprang erect.

Shara moaned and arched her back, pressing against him.

He played with her breasts for a few more moments before dropping his head and drawing one hard bead into his mouth, rolling it with his tongue.

Shara thrashed her head from side to side, a keening cry that sounded half-pleasure, half-protest coming from the back of her throat.

And then she moved.

Her clutching hands left his shoulders and ran down over the hard planes of his back, exploring as she went. She tugged on the hem of his T-shirt. Lifting his head, Royce helped strip it away.

His hands immediately went to the waistband of her white
trousers. He didn’t linger over their removal. He was too aroused to take things slowly.

His pants quickly followed.

When one of her hands insinuated itself between their tightly pressed bodies Royce knew exactly what was coming. Still, nothing could prepare him for the first delicate touch of her fingers on his erection.

When her hand closed around him, Royce froze. So much pulsating energy rushed to where she touched that he shuddered. When her hand moved he shuddered again.

‘Enough,’ he growled, barely able to get the word out as he clasped her wrist and pulled her hand away from him.

He was so aroused he was shaking.

A line from an old tune popped into his head.

There’s a fine line between pleasure and pain.

He was on the border of that line right now.

He’d never visited this particular place before.

Never felt the way he felt right now.

W
HEN
a hand settled hotly between her legs, Shara felt a rush of heat that shook her to the very foundations of her being. Clutching at Royce’s powerful back with claw-like fingers, she gasped as his fingers delicately probed the centre of her heat, his lingering caress driving her wild with anticipation. When his hand danced a rhythmic tattoo on the nub of her desire Shara felt as if she was about to shatter into a million pieces.

As if realising how close she was to coming, Royce used his free hand to caress her slowly, as though trying to soothe the flames his other hand had ignited.

It didn’t help.

She was beyond help.

She couldn’t take much more. She was at the very brink of a throbbing abyss. Royce kept her on the very edge, as if he enjoyed torturing her.

His fingers left her and were replaced by the probing hardness of his erection. Shara circled his waist with her legs, hooking her ankles together to hold him captive against her. She rotated her hips, urging him to enter her and end the suspense, the torture.

As she moved against him Royce moaned, but still he didn’t give her what she so desperately wanted.

Lifting her head, Shara nipped at his bottom lip with her teeth.

‘Now. Please now,’ she begged brokenly.

As if her plea was exactly what he’d been waiting for, Royce thrust inside her.

They moaned in unison.

For several long moments neither of them moved. Shara could have stayed that way for ever, enjoying the silken hardness of him filling and stretching her.

And then there was no more thought as Royce started to move within her, a slow rhythm at first, then faster. Shara moved with him, matching thrust for nerve-quivering thrust, tightening her legs around his waist and pulling him deeper and deeper.

The tension built, spiralled, and threw her sky-high.

In the next instant the world exploded into a mass of sheer sensation. A pulsating throb started deep in her womb and extended outwards until every bit of her was consumed by it. Her internal muscles clenched around him, her fingers clawing at his back.

Royce gave one final thrust, finding his own release with a muttered cry.

Shara’s limbs felt heavy and molten. Royce shuddered against her.

The wild beat of his heart matched the hammer of hers.

What they had just shared had been the most incredible experience of her life.

But as her heartbeat slowly returned to normal Shara plummeted back to earth with a bang.

Her mind was filled with visions of what had just happened.

Of hands and mouths, touching and tasting.

Everywhere.

She wished the memories would disappear, but they were indelibly imprinted on her memory banks.

Even in the good times with Steve sex had never been so intense or exciting. The passion that had sheared through her with Royce had turned her inside out.

The fact that it had been so intense disturbed her.

A frisson of …

Of what …?

Anxiety? Panic?

She wasn’t sure what.

A frisson of
something
rippled through her like a gust of cold wind.

‘I can’t do this,’ she said, pushing against Royce’s shoulders. ‘I’m sorry. I just can’t do this.’

Royce heeded her urging and rolled on to his back.

Shara scrambled to her feet and snatched up her clothes. Hugging them to her chest, she glanced at Royce to see if he was watching her.

He wasn’t.

His eyes were closed.

Quickly she pulled on her clothes to cover her nakedness.

When she was done she remained standing where she was, not sure what to do. She wanted to run out of the room and go somewhere. Anywhere. As long as it was away from Royce.

But that smacked of running away. Given her resolve to stand up for herself, she didn’t particularly want to take the cowardly way out.

Her eyes roamed his naked figure. She wished the action left her immune but was very much aware that it didn’t.

When she got to his face she was disconcerted to find that his eyes were open and he was watching her. Embarrassed heat flooded her cheeks and made the tips of her ears burn.

He moved to get up.

Shara turned her back on him.

She heard the rustle of clothing. She imagined him putting on his trousers and shirt. Imagined the ripple of muscle and the scent of warm male skin as he did so.

The images were so vivid that Shara scrunched up her eyes, but it didn’t help.

‘You can turn around now,’ Royce said dryly.

If anything the heat in her cheeks burned even more hotly. Slowly—reluctantly—she turned to face him.

‘Let’s get straight to the point, shall we?’ Royce spoke as calmly as if he were discussing the weather or the price of a loaf of bread. ‘What just happened shouldn’t have happened. Right?’

Relief poured through her. So too did an entirely unexpected pang of disappointment.

Hands clasped tightly together in front of her, Shara nodded. ‘No. I mean yes. It shouldn’t have happened. I just don’t want to get involved again. I … I don’t think I can handle it.’

It wasn’t just about sex.

It was about the exchange of power.

With men it was always a one way street—with the woman on the losing end.

Well, she’d been there, done that. She wasn’t going there again.

Straightening her spine and squaring her shoulders, Shara stared him straight in the eye.

Royce nodded.

Her heart plummeted to her toes and stayed there.

There was a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.

Both were quite patently ridiculous reactions.

She wasn’t disappointed by his agreement. She wasn’t.

This was what she wanted.

Wasn’t it?

‘I understand,’ Royce said with another nod.

He sounded calm and in control, but inside he was a seething mass of emotions.

He didn’t understand it.

He should be applauding.

Shara was saying everything he wanted to hear.

She wasn’t clinging.

She wasn’t trying to turn the situation to her advantage.

So why was he so displeased with her response?

Royce wasn’t sure, and that made him even more displeased.

He was an analytical kind of guy.

Logical.

He knew that one plus one equalled two—not twenty.

So why did nothing about this situation make sense?

He knew that getting involved with Shara was wrong—and not just because he couldn’t afford a distraction on the job.

It was more than that.

Alarm bells had started ringing almost from the beginning.

There was something about Shara that had got under his skin from day one.

Her hoity-toity tone had got his back up when normally such an attitude would have bounced straight off him.

His reaction to what she’d endured at the hands of Brady had been …

Well, it had been
emotional
, damn it!

Not professional. Not detached. Not anything it should have been.

It was as if his sympathy for her had sucked him over a line he hadn’t crossed since the day he’d learned the truth about Fiona—and that was more than enough to make him wary.

‘Good,’ Shara said.

Her voice sounded flat.

Royce searched her face.

Did she feel the same way he did? That what they’d shared had blown his mind and just about everything else?

No, he had to forget about that or he was a goner. He had to concentrate on the reasons they shouldn’t get involved.

‘You’ve just gone through a marriage break up. You’re being stalked by your ex-husband. The last thing you need is another man in your life,’ he said, repeating her words back at her. ‘That makes perfect sense. I completely understand.’

Shara was nodding. ‘That’s right. I don’t.’

‘And I’m here to do a job,’ Royce said. ‘I can’t do that properly if I get involved. I need to stay objective.’

‘Of course you do,’ she said. ‘This makes no sense for either of us.’

She was being helpful.

And co-operative.

But he wanted neither of those things.

It didn’t matter how many ‘t’s he crossed or how many ‘i’s he dotted, he wanted her. It went against every rational thought he possessed but that didn’t change anything.

Thankfully, before he did anything stupid, like kiss her again, his mobile phone started ringing. Extracting the phone from his pocket, he glanced at the screen and frowned.

He looked up. ‘I’m sorry but I’m going to have to take this. It’s the Los Angeles office.’

Shara inclined her head, her face expressionless. ‘No problem. We’ve said all we needed to say.’

As Royce watched her walk out of the room he couldn’t help feeling she was wrong about that.

What was he going to do?

Royce rubbed his jaw.

Damn.
What was the matter with him? The answer was simple. He had to bring in one of his people to finish this job while he concentrated on the high-profile case he’d just received.

Gerard Atwood would understand, he was sure. There were a number of points in his favour.

One, the AVO was in place and would no doubt be upheld by the courts in a fortnight’s time.

And, two, he only hired the best people. Shara would be more than safe with any of his operatives.

He just had to figure out who he could use.

That new girl Kelly Walker had impressed him with her work so far. He’d even been thinking of giving her a promotion.

He frowned.

But, no, Kelly was working the Reynolds case.

Bob Brisket, then. If his memory served him correctly Bob was the only operative available at the moment. But even as the idea formed Royce dismissed it. Bob wasn’t the right person. He was a good investigator, but too abrasive for bodyguard duty.

Well, there had to be a solution.

He snapped his fingers in the air and smiled. He had it. His friend Travis Knight could help him. Travis had worked with him before. He knew the ropes. In fact, Travis was one of the best—despite the fact that he preferred trading on the stockmarket for a living.

Picking up his mobile, Royce rapidly punched in the number.

‘Travis, old buddy. Long time no speak,’ Royce said when Travis finally picked up the phone.

‘Royce, where have you been? I was beginning to think you’d fallen off the face of the earth.’

‘Not quite.’ Royce laughed. ‘I’ve been busy, as usual. What about you? Still playing around with that computer of yours?’

‘I’ll have you know I work very hard on that computer of mine,’ Travis replied, mock-indignantly.

‘Sure,’ Royce joked. ‘For all of three hours a day.’

‘Sometimes I push myself and make it four,’ Travis joked in return. ‘How’s business with you?’

‘Fine. Fine. Couldn’t be better,’ Royce murmured quietly. ‘But I’m in a bit of a bind at the moment. I need to ask you a favour.’

‘Done,’ Travis replied promptly. ‘You name it.’

‘Do you mean that?’

‘Of course I do. Do you really think I’m likely to say no? You, Jackson and I may not be the Three Musketeers, but we come damn close. One for all and all for one. You know that.’

Royce did know. Which was precisely why he didn’t want to take advantage of Travis.

‘Thanks. I’m involved in a case at the moment and the Los Angeles office has just booked me in to protect a visiting celebrity without bothering to check my schedule,’ Royce said with frustration. ‘Not that I want to miss out on this one. It’s high-profile and comes with a fantastic fee. That’s why I need you to take on the assignment.’

As soon as the words were out of his mouth Royce stopped, hardly able to believe what he’d just said.

Had he really just asked Travis to take over the Taylor Zane case?

Royce replayed his words back in his head.

Yes, that was exactly what he’d said.

It was the exact opposite of what he’d intended to ask, which was for Travis to look after Shara while
he
took care of Taylor Zane.

How had that happened?

Royce wasn’t really sure, and really didn’t care.

Because the minute he’d said them the words had felt right.

Although it sounded ridiculous even to his own ears, he didn’t trust anyone else to protect Shara.

He shook his head. He must be going crazy.

Travis obviously thought so too, because he said, very doubtfully, ‘Royce, I haven’t done anything like that for a while. Surely you have someone else on your team who could take over?’

‘Not for this particular client. I need someone I can really trust. And that’s you,’ Royce answered emphatically. ‘I’d do it myself, except I’m needed here.’

And he
was
needed here. The almost daily phone calls from Brady were proof of that. So too was that brief glimpse he’d had of what he was sure was the other man in disguise.

Gut instinct was telling him to stay on Shara’s case. And if there was one thing he’d learned it was to listen to his instincts.

Staying on the case had nothing to do with the incredible sex they’d shared.

He was just doing his job.

Shara stayed in her room for the rest of the day.

She tried to pretend she wasn’t hiding, but the way she tensed every time she heard a noise somewhere in the house forced her to admit that that was exactly what she was doing.

Rightly or wrongly, she didn’t want to face Royce.

They’d had sex in the middle of her father’s expensive Aubusson rug, for goodness’ sake.

Mind-blowing, nerve-twisting, gut-wrenching sex.

Sex that had been so explosive it had torn her entire thought processes to shreds.

How could she have done something so stupid?

It was another poor decision in the long line of poor decisions she just seemed to keep on making.

Another snake’s head she’d jumped on all by herself.

Finally hunger drove her from her bedroom in search of food.

Slipping a peach-coloured bathrobe over the top of her nightdress, she carefully opened her door, trying to make as little noise as possible.

The last thing she wanted to do was wake Royce.